A data glove is commercially available, which is provided with a plurality of sensors for detecting movement of fingers of the human hand. Such a commercially available data glove is generally provided with bend sensors in regions corresponding to the respective phalangeal joints, and detects the joint angles in real time.
Such a data glove is being envisaged to be used for reproducing hand motions in virtual reality technologies applied in games, etc. as well as scientifically analyzing hand motions in sports such as a golf swing, or in playing a musical instrument such as a piano.
In particular, when the hand motion of professional athletes or musicians is analyzed, a subtle difference in movement could bear great importance. However, with a conventional data glove with a large number of sensors, a wearer may be unable to reproduce the usual movement due to discomfort when worn, leading to a failure to obtain effective data.
Further, there has been proposed a data glove for detecting bending and extension of the fingers by virtue of a sensor being provided for detecting stretch and contraction of the cloth (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2000-329511). However, the data glove disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2000-329511 detects movement of one finger by way of one sensor, and therefore cannot accurately detect movement of the finger having a plurality of joints. In addition, such a data glove is likely to cause misalignment of the sensor, and is difficult to accurately detect the hand motion. Moreover, some of the phalangeal joints, such as the metacarpophalangeal joints of the second to fourth fingers, are capable of bending and extending in the dorsal-palmar direction, as well as swinging in the lateral direction. Therefore, the data glove disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2000-329511 cannot accurately detect the hand motion.